When recording audio events in a dynamic environment for playback at a later time, it is important to process the audio signals such that when the signals are reproduced by the playback device, they closely resemble the audio event as experienced by the listener. For some time, beam forming techniques have been applied to signals recorded with microphone arrays in these situations to more accurately reproduce the spatial characteristics of audio signals during playback.
However, as recording electronics, and specifically cameras, have advanced, microphone arrays have shrunk to being confined within a singular small device. Design limitations to these cameras force the microphone arrays to have microphones in non-optimal locations for audio recording. These non-optimal locations create a variety of problems for traditional beam forming techniques.